Our portfolio of courses includes:
Finance for logistics managers
If logistics managers are to make informed decisions about their activities and they are to play a full role in their organisation’s management, they need to understand the financial impact of what they do beyond simple cost control and measurement. That is true equally of managers in manufacturing and retail and of those in third-party logistics operators.
We adapt the content and emphasis of this course to suit the messages client organisations want to get across, but the themes we explore would typically include:
- the importance of cash
- working capital, especially the impact of inventory
- risk and reward
- investment appraisal
- performance measurement
- financing operations, including gearing
Operational excellence in logistics
In every logistics operation and wider supply chain there are always opportunities for improvement. First it is about knowing where to look, and then learning the approaches and methods to identify the size of the opportunity for improvement, and then building the right team to make the changes. Some improvements, many in fact, can be worked on every single day by everyone in the operation; some are wider changes that need solid frameworks and thought on how to implement them.
Our operational excellence training is designed for anyone working in or with logistics teams. We have a course for those who are working on the front line in operations to help them get started, for supervisors who want to motivate and enable their team, and for senior leaders who want to learn the latest ideas in operational excellence.
To ensure our course are relevant and continually introducing new ideas and innovation for logistics professionals, we work closely with leading universities around the world and with practioners running and managing logistics operations around the world.
Warehouse design and costing
Our approach to warehouse design is structured around a methodology that runs from the definition of objectives through data analysis and the generation of options to solution choice and design and hence costing. We start with a thorough exploration of materials handling equipment and the associated storage options, and the product and activity characteristics that these best suit. We discuss the trade-off between flexibility and efficiency and the costs of different choices.
Throughout the course there is an emphasis on quantifying the effect of different options and exercises through which students can calculate features such as warehouse size or capacity, throughput and capital costs.
If time permits and it is appropriate, we take students through an activity-based costing model to equip them for budget development and review.
Introduction to supply chain for non-specialists
The globalisation of supply chains and the consolidation of major players in the third-party logistics industry have made the importance of professionals being able to look at the broader supply chain, rather than focusing in one area (for example freight forwarding) paramount. Similarly many people have moved into the logistics or supply chain function from other functional areas, often with little or no prior exposure to the subject. This course aims to give such practitioners a broad grounding in logistics and supply chain challenges and issues, the approaches and solutions that are available and where they can best be applied.